a thousand authors
While writing about the 1979 movie Alien and what it can teach us about extractive capitalism, I noted that movies can be more nuanced, profound and comprehensi...
Category: movies & television
show me
i’ll believe all the pretty talk about diversity and inclusion when a pilot episode ends with The Cover Girl’s Show Me. either our history matters o...
desperately seeking sounds
After nearly two years of working on an audio drama, I’ve come to wonder if I should have spent more time thinking about the audio part and less on the dr...
more money in trolling
I made this video for Instagram [in 2019] just over two years ago. It should probably be hosted here as well. Transcript: “what happens when there’s...
Queens English
From my February 7, 2021 newsletter. Reprinted in full with a few grammatical corrections. “You don’t sound Cuban.” “Where’s your ...
shifts
It hit me first thing this morning, upon waking into our quarantine & curfew, that a character is interesting when they shift from one point of view to anot...
Junk
I grew up when America was first discussing “junk food”: ready-to-eat foods that were filling, and tasty, but neither nutritious nor healthy. I feel like we’ve ...
A Long View on YouTube
A long view on YouTube is that it’s a platform for artists – outsider mostly, many of whom make art about their own lives – and educators. The “how&...
that migrant life
When you’re a migrant, be it a refugee or an immigrant, you’re forever an outsider. You’re no longer fully of the culture you left and yo...
First families
I slept fitfully and repeatedly dreamed of the migrant family, as enshrined by Christianity. La familia sagrada. The holy family versus Herod, the king. The fam...
Los Angeles
Rene Russo Get Shorty (1995), Nightcrawler (2014)
War Games, Fail-Safe, Dr. Strangelove
In 1998, there were two movies about a natural catastrophe: Armageddon & Deep Impact. In 2006, there were two movies about magicians living outside the real...
Underground
Magicians show you things you don’t know you’re seeing. Prosecutors tell you things you don’t realize you’re hearing. Movies use a similar ploy: they make you f...
the normal
I just scanned the most recent issue of “14 y medio”, a banned / clandestine news digest from Cuba. You won’t be surprised that the stories are about struggle. ...
Invasions
One of the charms of Star Wars was the contrast of robots and serfs, space ships and lords. High technology and feudalism. If you follow US politics (don’t, it’...
glowing with possibility
While reading the script for Pulp Fiction, I came across a reference to Repo Man which reminded me of a scene from the recent Atlanta. Apparently, this visual t...
Motherhood and the workplace
The movie Arrival (2016) and the movie Alien (1979) are contrasting takes on motherhood and women in the workplace. In Arrival, a successful professional woman ...
The industry of memory
On The Sympathizer: Charlie Rose: You talk about the industry of memory. What’s that? Viet Thanh Nguyen: Well, we like to think that our memories are all ...
Characters Matter
If you’re a young Hispanic interested in a career in acting, seeing a Hispanic actor on the screen could validate your professional interest. If you’...
Bursts out into star-sprinkled space.
From Alien by Walter Hill, David Giler and Dan O’Bannon: Outside the windows, clouds, clouds, clouds. Another tremor runs through the ship. The crews eyes...